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prion

A small infectious proteinaceous particle, resistant to nucleases, implicated as the etiologic agent of spongiform encephalopathies, including: 1) kuru 2) Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease 3) Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome 4) fatal familial insomnia 5) chronic wasting disease in deer [2] In 1997, Stanley Pruisner received the Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine for the disovery of prions. The term prion was coined by Pruisner for proteinaceous infectious particle. Prions may be identical to the prion protein itself, or may contains additional components.

Related

CD230 or major prion protein (PrP) transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (prion disease)

General

organism

References

  1. Stedman's Medical Dictionary 27th ed, Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, 1999
  2. Angers RC et al, Prions in skeletal muscles of deer with chronic wasting disease Science 2006; 311:1177 PMID: 16439622